Point of No Return (31 page)

“Isn’t she coming with us?” I asked.

“Thought we might need a quick exit,” Blane explained, “so she’s going to be nearby with the car.”

“So why am I coming along? I’m not exactly family.” And it wasn’t like I trusted myself to be in the same room with Senator Keaston without trying to hurt him.

“Aren’t you?” Blane asked. I glanced up at him. A soft smile played at the edges of his lips.

Reaching down, he took my hand, and that was how we walked up the Capitol steps and into the building—Kade on one side of me, my hand firmly clasped in his, and Blane on the other. I hoped I was able to give something to them in the same way they both gave strength and courage to me.

We went through security, Blane showing them a special ID he took from his wallet, then we were allowed to pass.

There were throngs of people everywhere, but Blane seemed to know where he was going. Before long we stood in front of a large wooden door with a bronze placard, emblazoned with
Senator Robert W. Keaston
, on the wall next to it. Underneath his name was
MASSACHUSETTS.
Blane rapped twice on the door, then walked in.

An older woman sat behind a large desk made from cherry wood. Two flags stood in a corner of the room, one an American flag, the other the state flag of Massachusetts, I assumed. The woman glanced up.

“Mr. Kirk,” she said with a smile. “It’s been a while since you’ve been up to see the senator.”

“Hi, Jackie. Been a while since I’ve been to Washington,” Blane replied, his easy smile making the dimple appear in his cheek. “Is he in?”

“He’s in a meeting at the moment,” Jackie said, “but you’re welcome to wait in his office.”

“Thank you,” Blane replied. He held open another door, allowing me and Kade to step inside the senator’s office. Jackie eyed me curiously but didn’t ask any questions. Blane softly closed the door behind him.

The office wasn’t terribly large, but then again, I thought space was probably at a premium in this building. There was a gray marble fireplace situated between two windows. Another cherry wood desk took up a good amount of space along one wall and a thick oriental-style rug covered the floor. A large portrait painting of John Adams hung behind the desk.

Two leather armchairs flanked an antique table along the wall opposite the desk and that’s where Kade sat. He slid his sunglasses into the inside pocket of his suit coat and crossed an ankle over the other knee. Taking a small device from another pocket, he flicked a tiny switch.

“That should take care of any listening devices within a twenty-foot radius,” he said, sliding it back into his pocket.

Blane nodded. He seemed restless, moving around the room, stopping to gaze out the window. My heart hurt for him. The look on his face was stark, grim. I went up to him, resting my hand on his arm. He glanced down at me and it seemed I didn’t have to say anything. He read my face, then lifted a hand to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing gently across my skin. Sliding his hand underneath my hair to the back of my neck, he drew me closer, brushing a kiss to my forehead.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly.

The door opened and the man I hated walked in.

Senator Keaston looked like any other powerful politician, and his expression said that while he wasn’t surprised to see us, he wasn’t happy about it, either.

“Did I miss the memo on a family meeting?” The senator’s words were chiding, but his gaze was calculating as he took in Kade, me, and Blane. He settled into the chair behind the desk.

“I prefer not to claim you,” Kade said, his lips twisting into a chilly smirk.

The senator glared at him. “Likewise, boy,” he said, his voice rife with contempt. He turned and gazed my way. “And I see you’ve brought the trash in with you.”

Blane stiffened and Kade’s eyes narrowed dangerously. I tightened my grip on Blane’s arm, but he didn’t make a move toward Keaston. Instead, he turned to me, solicitously taking my hand and drawing me across the room to sit in the chair next to Kade. My knees were shaking, so sitting down seemed like a great idea. After I sank into the seat, Blane’s hand brushed my hair back before he turned again to face Keaston.

“I think it’s time you and I had a talk, Uncle,” Blane said, approaching the desk. He leaned one shoulder against the fireplace and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve lied to me, manipulated me, tried to hurt the people I love. Why?”

“It sounds like you’ve been listening a bit too much to Kade,” Keaston replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Matt Summers confessed,” Blane said. “He said you were behind Kathleen being taken. You know, by the sex traffickers who would have sold her to the highest bidder for a life of misery, for however long she lasted?” His voice was hard. “And before you start saying he was lying, Matt had a gun to his head, so I think he was pretty intent on telling me the truth.”

Now I knew that Blane hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger on Matt and that Matt had actually confessed to me and Lucy, though I’d been too drugged to remember it. But I wasn’t about to contradict Blane’s story.

Unbelievably, Keaston smiled. “Well, it all worked out, didn’t it? She’s sitting right there, healthy as can be. Now, when can I expect the wedding bells?”

“Kathleen and I aren’t getting married, Robert,” Blane said. “You helped see to that. And I’m through with politics. The games you’ve been playing with my life have
. . .
Well, let’s just say it’s all left a bad taste in my mouth.

“You’ve had your fingers in some pretty nasty pies, Robert,” Blane continued. “All the way back to the TecSol case, only you weren’t the one rigging the election, but the one helping to sell access to China—and using a teenager and her captive parents to do it.”

My eyes widened. I’d had no idea Keaston had had anything to do with imprisoning CJ’s parents or her subsequent blackmailing.

“You worked with Matt Summers to try and intimidate me into losing the Waters case, threatening Kathleen, hurting her. You sent someone to try and kill Kade, my
brother
, then lied to me about my
fiancée
!” Blane’s voice had risen, fury filling each syllable, until he stood in a towering rage that made me shrink back in my chair.

None of this seemed to have the least effect on Keaston. “Are you through having a temper tantrum?” he barked. “You’re a soldier. You know that sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do in order to achieve an end result. The end justifies the means, and I am not going to explain myself to you.”

Blane shoved a hand through his hair, turning away to press both hands on the mantel, leaning on the fireplace as though for the support and strength to be calm.

“How far back does it go, Robert?” he asked, not looking at him. “Did my dad decide Kade couldn’t come live with us, or did you decide for him?”

“Your brother’s been a liability since the day he was born,” Keaston scoffed. “I never should have helped you find him when William died. That was a mistake. He should’ve disappeared when his mother died.”

I jumped when Blane suddenly swept an arm across the top of the fireplace, sending everything on it—picture frames, figurines, candlesticks—smashing into the wall and onto the floor in a cacophony of breaking glass. I was reminded of when I’d told him I was pregnant and he had destroyed the den. Blane’s rage was terrifying. I’d never seen him so angry before. I started shaking and Kade took my hand, folding it reassuringly into his.

That was the moment I saw a visible reaction from Keaston. His eyes widened slightly and his throat moved as he swallowed, but in seconds he’d regained his composure.

Blane faced him. “Do you have any idea the hell Kade would have been spared if he’d been allowed to come live with us?” he rasped, the words edged in bitterness and guilt.

“Kade was not my concern,” Keaston said. “You were. Everything I’ve done, I’ve done to help pave the path for you, your career.”

“Bullshit,” Blane spat. “Everything you’ve done has been for you, not me.”

Keaston rubbed a hand across his forehead and sighed. “We could argue semantics all day, Blane, but frankly I don’t have the time. You’re here, Kade’s here. Why? What do you want? Or are we done?”

“We’re not done,” Kade replied, “but
you
are.”

“Haven’t we already had this conversation about threats, Kade?” Keaston retorted. “I was very clear, was I not?”

“You were very clear that, should I not make Kathleen go back to Blane, you would kill her, yes,” Kade said matter-of-factly.

I gulped. To hear it spelled out so plainly, my life or death dependent entirely on my relationship with Blane, was sobering. I’d known Keaston was crazy—he had to be to have done some of the things he had—but the reality of it was still sad and unnerving.

“Is that what you told Kade?” Blane asked.

“She’s carrying your child,” Keaston said in a reasonable tone. “Don’t you think you ought to marry her? You go on and on about Kade and his childhood. Are you going to let your child grow up fatherless as well?”

Kade stood, approaching Keaston until he mirrored Blane, flanking the other side of the senator’s desk. “Kathleen is pregnant with
my
baby, Uncle Robert, not Blane’s.” His lips twisted. “Bet you didn’t see that one coming.”

“Is that what she told you?” Keaston asked, his eyes swiveling to meet mine. He leaned forward, his arms crossed and flat on the desk. “She slept with both of you and you believe her? She’s a white-trash whore, gentlemen.”

I didn’t flinch from his gaze. I’d been called worse.

“She’ll tell you whatever she thinks will get her the best deal,” he continued. “I should know. I’ve dealt with women like her before.” He glanced at Kade and I sucked in a breath, realizing he meant Kade’s mother.

“That’s rich, accusing her of lying,” Kade said. “Coming from you.”

“We know about Lazaroff,” Blane said, “and the money he was funneling to you.”

Keaston went still at those words.

“I hear it’s real hard to get a fracking permit through the Department of Energy,” Kade said. “What with all the environmental groups so opposed to it. Those groups do seem so well funded, don’t they? Getting the word out, staging protests, making movies about how dangerous it is.”

“Of course the primary export of Russia is natural gas,” Blane said. “They stand to lose a lot of revenue if the US started expanding our own production, reducing the need to buy foreign natural gas. If I were them, I’d be doing everything I could to scare people away from fracking, right, Robert?”

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?” Kade asked. “Except, we know you do, because we have every record of every transaction Lazaroff made to you.”

“Your career is over,” Blane said. “Ties to Russia and China? Not even your buddies in the media can whitewash that for you.”

Keaston sat back in his chair. Tense silence reigned. I held my breath, wondering if even this would be enough to take him down. Then he smiled.

“Well, you two think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you,” he said, looking from Blane to Kade and back.

Kade shrugged. “I think we’ve got all the bases covered, yeah.”

“Resign,” Blane said. “Say it’s your health, say it’s Vivian’s health—I don’t care. I’ll let you ‘retire’ with dignity.”

“And if I don’t?”

“If you don’t, then you leave us no choice,” Blane replied. “We’ll release it all and you’ll lose everything.”

“I would think Lazaroff would have something to say about your plans to out our arrangement to the public.”

“Lazaroff’s dead,” Kade retorted. His smile was cold. “I saw to it myself.”

Keaston calmly opened the drawer in his desk
. . .
and pulled out a gun.

My breath caught on a gasp, my fingers digging into the arms of the chair where I sat. I knew neither Blane nor Kade were armed. They wouldn’t have gotten through security if they’d brought their guns with them.

It seemed the same thoughts went through Blane and Kade’s heads, because they both stiffened.

“I always knew it was a careful balance,” Keaston said, “having two men such as yourselves close to me. Blane, you may not believe me, but I have only ever wanted the best for you, for your career, and have worked tirelessly to achieve those ends.” He turned to Kade, pointing the gun in his direction. “You, however, have been nothing but a grave disappointment.”

“I’m all broken up about that,” Kade sneered, but his hands were clenched in fists at his sides.

Keaston ignored him, straightening to face me instead. “But you,” he said, leveling the gun at me. “You’ve been a pain in my side since you screwed up the TecSol project. Then you wrapped those legs around Blane, got inside his head, and he hasn’t been the same since. In actuality, I can blame all of this”—he gestured to encompass all four of us—“on you.”

“What are you doing?” Blane asked, his tone calm and reasonable. “You can’t fire a gun in here, kill Kathleen. Security would be on you in minutes. You want to go to prison for killing a pregnant woman? They’ll call you a monster.”

“You say I have to retire or you’ll destroy my reputation anyway, probably sending me to prison as well,” Keaston said. “Why not hurt both of you with one shot and have my revenge? It appears I have nothing to lose anymore.”